On March 20, 1753 a number of persons living in the territory along the Lehigh River above Bethlehem signed a petition to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Northampton County asking that a new Township be created. On June 9th of that same year, the Court of Easton approved the request. So was created the Township of Salisbury, 23 years before the Declaration of Independence, in the same year that the Liberty Bell was completed, and 16 years after the first official settlement.

A lively debate occasionally springs up over the correct name of the Township! It has been variously called Saltzberg, Salsberg, Saltzburg, Salsburg, Salisburg, and, of course, Salisbury, its official name today.

It is possible that Salzburg was the preference of the petitioning population. The vast majority of the petitioning population were of German descent from Salzburg, Austria. The Township could have been named after Salisbury, England. At this time the Township was under the rule of King George and the Recording Clerk was English.

One of the smallest townships in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania today, 11.3 square miles, Salisbury was once a much larger area. Fountain Hill, Emmaus from Keystone Street eastward, and all of Allentown south of the Little Lehigh Creek were once part of Salisbury.

The Borough of Fountain Hill was the original settlement of Emmaus by the Moravians in the 1740's. Fountain Hill incorporated as a Borough in 1893, effectively separating itself from Salisbury. Emmaus incorporated as a Borough in 1759.

At one time there was a third borough, South Allentown, located just south of the Little Lehigh in the area of the present 8th Street Bridge. The City of Allentown, however, annexed the borough as well as Trout Creek Park, Mountainville, Queen City Airport, the Cedar Creek Park, the Little Lehigh Park, and the Union Terrace area in a series of annexations ending in 1951, when Salisbury was designated as a Township of the First Class.

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there were 13,498 people, 5,138 households, and 3,868 families residing in the township. The population density was 472.9/km² (1,224.9/mi²). There were 5,281 housing units at an average density of 185.0/km² (479.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 95.41% White, 1.51% African American, 0.04% Native American, 1.48% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.85% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.14% of the population.

There were 5,138 households out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.9% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the township the population was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $52,935, and the median income for a family was $62,534. Males had a median income of $44,071 versus $27,746 for females. The per capita income for the township was $28,073. About 1.7% of families and 2.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.